Doing what I can to help
by ViolaMoon
Summary: Hannah Abbott's is often underestimated, especially by herself. She chooses not to fight and help out in other ways. She proves to herself that she can be helpful in her own way. Part of the Quidditch competition.


**This story was written for the Third Round of the Seventh Season of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I'm writing as Chaser 1 for The Tutshill Tornados.**

**Chaser 1 prompt: **The Kabuki Dance of Japan; write about a character, _excluding Neville_, who spends most of their time behind the scenes, but eventually gets their moment to shine.

**These are the prompts I'm using to as a chaser to score some extra points: **14: (Poem) A friend – Gillian Jones, 15: (quote) "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." – Aristotle & 11: (emotion) Happiness

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the world J.K. Rowling has created. It's all hers, from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts to all the people living there.**

**Thanks to my fantastic teams for betaing!**

**WARNING: multiple mentions of death, slightly AUish maybe from the battle of Hogwarts.**

**I tried to stay as close to canon as I could.**

**Title: Just doing what I can**

**Words: 2875**

Hannah had not wanted to return for her seventh year at Hogwarts. She'd done so for her friends, not because the Death Eaters said she should. Her mother had been killed in her sixth year and then Dumbledore had been murdered as well. Was there anywhere that was safe in the wizarding world? At least she could be with Ernie, Susan, and Justin, her friends and housemates in Hufflepuff.

The year went by as uneventfully as it could when the school was being run by Death Eaters. One day in May, she was helping out in the DA when there came a call from Aberforth through the portrait hole. Harry Potter and his friends had arrived at Hogwarts. The room buzzed with excitement, and several of the Gryffindors sprung to action. Harry had left with Luna Lovegood in search of the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, and before long, they were back with a message to meet in the Great Hall.

The underage students were asked to evacuate and Hannah volunteered to help. Even though she had been a member of Dumbledore's Army for some time now, Hannah wasn't a great dueler. She would help out in the Room of Requirement instead. The younger students were probably scared and someone needed to comfort them. She was better suited for a supporting role.

"Go on, Susan," she said, encouraging her friend who was heading down to help Professor Sprout. They were going to set a variety of dangerous plants—like Devils Snare, Tentacula, and Snargaluff pods—on the Death Eaters trying to infiltrate the castle. Ernie was joining the Gryffindors in the Great Hall and Justin was checking the Hufflepuff common room, just to make sure everyone had gotten the message.

"Be careful, don't make yourselves victims," she said, hugging all three of them.

"You too, Hannah. Keep yourself safe!" Susan replied tearfully before wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

Hannah watched them go as her heart beat violently in her chest. Would she see her friends again? If things were going to develop the way everyone was saying, they were going into open warfare, and every one of them was in danger.

The first group of evacuees came into the Room of Requirement. They were huddled together, looking over their shoulders as if to see if the Death Eaters had followed them into the room. Hannah rushed over and welcomed them, putting a hand on the shoulder of two particularly small first-years. "Welcome! You can feel perfectly safe here. As long as we all wish to be safe from the Death Eaters, the room will keep us safe!" she said, leading them over to an area with fluffy cushions and house-elves had delivered piles of chocolates and other sweet treats just before the kids had arrived.

Hannah started handing out chocolate to each of them. "Once we get the all-clear on the other side, we will send you through to Aberforth and get you all to safety." She sat down amongst them and started playing games and singing songs with the younger students— anything to keep them happy and calm. She knew how frightened they must be. She was just as scared herself.

For the next hour, she welcomed more and more of the younger students, encouraging them to play and talk to each other. She wished for ways to make them laugh and the room provided. There appeared a stack of various Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes products in the middle of the room and soon the room was full of laughter.

Once she was sure that all the students who needed to evacuate were in the room and were no longer as frightened as they had been, she gave her own emotions room to grow. She thought about her friends and hoped they were safe. She worried that they would get hurt or worse be killed and she would quickly have fallen into a pit of despair if she hadn't been pulled out of her thoughts by Madam Pomfrey.

"Miss Abbott, how are the students doing? We are expecting the all-clear before long," she said, surveying the students who despite a few nervous looks around the room, seemed relaxed enough and were laughing and smiling at each other.

"They're doing okay. The little ones were terrified when they first arrived, but they seem to have settled down. I gave them plenty of chocolate," Hannah said with a nervous smile. She knew that chocolate had magical properties, but it was a bit unnerving talking about it with the matron of the hospital wing.

"Good call, Miss Abbott." Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Have you had any yourself?" Her trained eye had apparently noticed Hannah's nerves. "And will you be evacuating with the students?"

Hannah gave a nervous giggle. "No, I hadn't thought about having any myself. I will have a little in a minute. And I wasn't planning on leaving. Once we're done here, I want to see if I can help elsewhere."

Madam Pomfrey handed her a good slab of Honeydukes chocolate, "You have done an excellent job, Miss Abbott. Eat this while I talk to Mr. Filch. I can see that he has just gotten back." The matron moved over towards the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore where Filch stood, looking somewhat irritated at the number of students present. Hannah noticed that he watched particularly the students using the WWW products with an eagle-like stare.

Madam Pomfrey gave her a signal, and she moved over to them, nibbling on her chocolate. They began getting the students out, by both house and in order from youngest to oldest. The plan was to get them into the Hog's Head, and then they would be transported by Portkey into safe houses until the battle was over. Hannah moved between the groups of people, comforting the frightened students and reassuring them that there were people to keep them safe waiting on the other side.

When the last group of students had left through the portrait hole, she released a sigh of relief. They were going to be safe. The niggling in the back of her mind was getting stronger and stronger the more she waited. Where were her friends? Were they safe?

Over the past year, she'd come to think of Susan as a sister and Ernie and Justin as her brothers. They were so close that Hannah felt like she and her friends shared the same soul. The fact that she was isolated here in the Room of Requirement and the knowledge that her friends were fighting against dangerous enemies made her feel like her soul was split in two.

"Miss Abbott?" A voice pulled her mind out of its panic. Hannah focused her vision and saw Madam Pomfrey smiling at her.

"I was wondering whether you'd assist me in the Great Hall. There will undoubtedly be people who I need to care for and you would make an excellent assistant."

"I would be happy to, Madam Pomfrey," she said, joining Madam Pomfrey and Mr. Filch as they carefully made their way down to the Great Hall. It seemed like it took hours to get there as they had to watch out for trouble. Hannah found herself looking in every direction, desperate to see her friends and make sure that they were safe.

Somehow they managed to get to the hall safely. They'd picked up a few wounded along the way, a sixth-year Ravenclaw who had joined Dumbledore's Army this year and a sixth-year Gryffindor named Colin Creevey. Madam Pomfrey grumbled to them about the fact that the students who were in the DA must have snuck into the castle again after evacuating.

After they entered the hall, Hannah helped Madam Pomfrey transfigure the benches and tables into makeshift beds they could lay the victims of the Death Eaters on. She sprang to action, bandaging wounds, healing broken bones and cuts.

"Hello Colin, let me get you patched up," Hannah said with a smile, surveying him with a comforting gaze as she evaluated what she needed to do and whether he needed to see Madam Pomfrey.

Professor McGonagall entered the hall and activated a warding charm to prevent Death Eaters from entering. When that was done, she saw Colin. If he could have shrunk more into the makeshift bed, he would have. McGonagall had a face like thunder. "Colin Creevey! What are you doing back in the castle?!"

Colin lay speechless and could only sputter out an apology. Hannah, in the meantime, healed his sprained ankle and bandaged his wounds.

"I want you out of the castle, Mr. Creevey. I cannot express strongly enough how dangerous it is right now, and you are underage," McGonagall scolded him, with a stern look. Colin opened his mouth to argue but decided against it.

"He is all fixed up, Professor," Hannah said and allowed McGonagall to escort him back to the Room of Requirement. Somehow Hannah suspected that she would see Colin again soon. He, like so many of the Gryffindors, could not sit by and wait for the Battle to be over. Hannah felt guilty for a moment. Why did she have to be bad at duelling?

Hannah busied herself with helping Madam Pomfrey. There were more unfortunate people coming in who had been killed in the battle and Hannah's heart broke every time a new patient came through the doors.

She dreaded the thought of Susan, Ernie or Justin being carried through them, either harmed or dead. Luckily it hadn't happened yet. _Please be safe_ she thought as she comforted a hurt seventh-year Ravenclaw. "It's alright. Madam Pomfrey can put you right in just a moment." The girl sobbed and looked over at a body not so far away. Hannah knew how the girl felt and pulled her into a careful hug as to not aggravate her injuries.

She caught snippets of what was happening outside the hall as more and more victims of the Death Eaters came in. Harry and his friends were going all over the castle looking for things to defeat You-know-who, and many were getting injured or killed. It didn't look good so far.

Madam Pomfrey asked Hannah to help her with a particularly difficult patient when a strange, cold voice appeared in her head. Hannah gasped, her eyes growing wide when she realised who it was. She could tell that she wasn't the only one who could hear his voice. His forces were retreating for an hour, and they could collect the dead and treat all those who couldn't reach the hall.

Madam Pomfrey sprang to action. she did not seem so affected by You-know-who's words. "Miss Abbott, take this bag and treat as many people as you can find. Tag the bodies with the Flagrate charm and then I will get someone to collect them." She handed Hannah a bag ladened with potions and bandages. "Be careful," she added, shooing Hannah away.

Hannah headed out of the Great Hall and started down one of the corridors, keeping an ear out for any cries. At the same time, Hannah hoped and prayed that she would find her friends. They had to be around here somewhere. Hannah just hoped that she wouldn't find them dead. The worry ate her up inside, and it took all her strength to keep going. There were people who needed her.

She found some adults on the ground, catching their breath. She asked them if they were alright and needed any healing. They shook their heads and smiled, thanking her. "Have you seen anyone who needs help?" Hannah asked.

The tall, dark man answered. "I believe there are a couple of students in a classroom further down who might need help and there is a dead body over there." He pointed towards a door opening across the way. Hannah nodded with a serious expression. "Thank you. If you need anything, we are gathering in the Great Hall."

They thanked her, and she was off again. She had hope that the students were her friends, but she felt she couldn't be entirely hopeful. That would only lead to heartbreak. She quickly found and marked the body the man had mentioned. It was a younger student, a Gryffindor boy who was probably a third or fourth year. She didn't recognise him, but he was still too young to be in the castle. Why hadn't he left? Or had he snuck back in like Colin? She closed the boy's eyes and gave a tearful sigh. No one was safe in this war.

Hannah soon found the students the man had told her about. They were not her friends. She saw Michael, Cho, and some other Ravenclaws. "Hey everyone, are you all doing okay?" she asked as she entered the room.

"Hannah, it is so good to see you!" Cho ran over to her and gave her a hug. "Are you okay?" she asked without answering Hannah's question.

"I'm fine. I am helping Madam Pomfrey in the Great Hall," Hannah replied. She looked at each of the students gathered in the room. "Are any of you hurt?"

"No, we are fine, actually," Michael told her. "We healed the few cuts and bruises we had. Other than that, we've escaped major injury."

Hannah sighed in relief. "That's great. The fewer that are injured, the better, " She smiled at them, settling her bag back on her shoulder. "I don't suppose you have seen Susan, Ernie or Justin, have you?" she asked and a look of concern played across her face.

Michael shook his head. "No sorry." And Cho added, "I saw them a few hours ago but not recently." She held Hannah's hand for a brief moment. "I am sure they're fine."

Hannah thanked them and headed out again. She searched the first floor and healed a few people. She marked the dead and closed their eyes out of respect. She grew more and more nervous each time she saw someone who resembled her friends. She almost burst out crying when she found a girl who looked similar to Susan from a distance. Hannah felt like her soul was tearing with each step she took and she found that she visibly shook.

A Patronus message came from Madam Pomfrey, asking her to return, and Hannah sped off down the fastest route to the Hall. Her mind felt numb. She'd seen so many dead and injured that she wondered whether there was a way out of all this darkness.

She stepped through the doors. "Hannah!" a voice called out from the far end of the hall. Her heart skipped a beat. It was Susan, Ernie, and Justin. She placed the bag down beside Madam Pomfrey before running towards them and pulling her friends into a huge hug.

"Thank goodness, you're all here. I couldn't find you anywhere!" Hannah said, not letting go of Susan's hand. "Are you all alright?" she asked, taking a step back to look at them.

Ernie held up a bandaged hand to show her when there came a call from outside the hall. Hannah and her friends followed the stream of people outside where they found Harry motionless in Hagrid's arms. Hannah's heart sank. All was lost. That was until Neville started fighting. Soon all of Dumbledore's Army was fighting, including her. She wouldn't let any more people get killed. There were shouts. Harry had disappeared! How had that happened?

Voldemort was making his way in the castle with his Death Eaters, and fighting broke out everywhere. Hannah passed the body of Colin Creevey "Colin…" she said softly before she was pushed inside by Seamus. "It's not safe here, Abbott!" he said in his Irish brogue.

Voldemort raised his wand at them and said the killing curse, but somehow a shielding charm appeared in front of them. Soon Harry reappeared, and before they could even catch their breath, Voldemort was defeated. Hannah felt like it had ended in the blink of an eye.

Some hours later, Hannah had finished helping with the wounded and sat with her friends. They held each other's hands in silence, happy to be alive.

"Miss Abbott?" McGonagall stood before her. Hannah stood up quickly, unsure what the headmistress wanted with her.

"I wanted to thank you for your hard work. You saved many lives today." The professor smiled at her.

"I only helped with the evacuation and healing, Professor. I wasn't out fighting like everyone else," Hannah said, slightly ashamed at herself. Her shoulders sunk, and she frowned.

"Don't discount your actions, everyone helps in their own way. And there is just as much a need for healers and protectors as there is a need for fighters," the professor said, surveying the hall for a moment. "Now normally I would give house points, but they seem a bit redundant at this point. Therefore I am awarding you a Special Award for Services to the School."

Her friends erupted in cheers and hugged her. "Well done Hannah!" Hannah looked shocked but gave a little smile. "I only wanted to help," she said, feeling for the first time that day, a moment of pure happiness. She and her friends were alive, and she had found her talent. Maybe she was worth more than she thought.


End file.
